President Joe Biden has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Biden admitted to reporters on Tuesday that he insisted that Netanyahu agree to a three-day pause in fighting while speaking with him on the phone on Monday. The three-day pause in fighting would allow for the release of some of the hostages currently held by Hamas in Gaza.
More than 200 people have been reported to have been taken hostage by Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group, in the aftermath of an Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which left more than 1,400 Israelis dead.
To date, two elderly Israeli women, Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, and Nurit Cooper, 79, and two Americans, Judith Ranaan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie, 17, have been released by Hamas.
“I didn’t get a chance to talk to him today,” Biden said. “I did ask him for a pause in the past – yesterday. Still waiting to hear.”
Biden’s comments come days after both he and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have expressed the need for a humanitarian pause in the fighting to allow for the release of prisoners and distribute humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
“We’ve seen in recent days Palestinian civilians continuing to bear the brunt of this, this action,” Blinken told reporters, according to The New York Times. “And it’s important that the United States is committed to making sure everything possible is done to protect civilians.”
Blinken brought up the need for “humanitarian pauses” during a speech to the United Nations Security Council, according to the outlet. The secretary of state cited the need to get “food, medicine and water and other assistance” to the people of Gaza and areas where people need humanitarian aid.
When confronted by a pro-Palestinian protester during a fundraiser who demanded that Biden call for a ceasefire, Biden suggested the “need” for a pause in fighting.
“I think we need a pause,” Biden said. “A pause means give time to get the prisoners out.”
Two U.S. and Israeli officials explained that Netanyahu’s hesitation in a humanitarian pause comes from a lack of trust in Hamas. An Israeli official explained to Axios that during a humanitarian pause in 2014, a group of Israeli soldiers was attacked by Hamas, with one kidnapped and several others killed.
